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At long last, a representative from ARMS will finally get the opportunity to throw hands in the world of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. But which character will get to nod? Here are my picks for odds on favourites, as well as few one dark horse options that aren’t out of the realm of possibility!
Having sold north of 2 million units and still standing as one of the best-selling titles on the Nintendo Switch, ARMS doesn’t necessarily need a new lease on life. Nevertheless, it’s getting one. With a yet-to-be named ARMS character being included as part of the season 2 Fighter Pass for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, an open online tournament, and free trial available now on the eShop, ARMS is relevant again and I’m so happy for it.
Having sold over two million copies and ranking as the 8th most played game on the Nintendo Switch in 2017, the odds of the ARMS franchise returning in some form are pretty high. While we may not see a sequel for quite some time based on Nintendo’s track record of generally releasing only one game of each franchise on a platform, here’s a few things I would want to see in a successor to ARMS!
Did you pass on ARMS the first time around? This underrated Nintendo fighting game is offering a new free Global Testpunch starting today and ending on April 2nd at 11:59 PM EST. You don’t have to take my word for it, give it a go and try it out for yourself!
The stream was a bust, but that didn’t stop me from playing ARMS while quickly running down the news from the latest Nintendo Direct! Also, Smash Bros.!
Buy the Nintendo Switch from Amazon.com
Finally!
One of the biggest knocks against ARMS was the inability to play a local versus match with all arms unlocked. This greatly hampered the tournament scene, as tournament organizers simply didn’t have the time to unlock every arm for every copy of the game. As such, tournaments up until now have been forced to use default arms for each character, undermining the core game design and severely limiting the meta.
Now with the 5.1 patch, players will have access to a Tournament mode that unlocks all arms. You will be locked out of other modes and records will not be kept, but that’s fine for the purposes of running a local tournament.
This is great news for a fighter that continues to get better. Plus, with the game having sold about 250,000 copies in Q4 2017, the game now has an install base of 1.6 million, making it a great success for a new fighting game IP. Now if they could only fix the lag in LAN play…
2017 has certainly been an eventful one for the video game industry. From Nintendo’s resurrection off the strength of the Nintendo Switch, to the franchise-crushing disappointment of Mass Effect: Andromeda, there was a lot about this year that we didn’t see coming.
In this post, I’m going to highlight the biggest surprise in terms of software. I think the success of the Nintendo Switch would take it hands-down otherwise. Anywho, here’s my biggest video game software surprise of 2017!
Nintendo Switch owners are likely still busy with Super Mario Odyssey, but ARMS continues to truck along in the background with version 4.0 available now. This update brings in a new mode, a new arm attribute, and a new character named Misango. This Aztec warrior has cool scorpion gloves, and some weird special abilities with the mask. It’s been a bit since I played the game but I’m ready to jump in and try this guy out!
I’ll be the first to admit that I like ARMS more than most. It dominated my summer as I fought my way up to the highest ranks, and even earned a spot as a finalist in a tournament earlier this year. That said, I’ve seen more than my fair share of criticism about the game from around the web, attacking its perceived lack of content, shallow gameplay, and slow rollout of updates. Everyone is entitled to their opinion on those matters and I respect that.
What does bother me though is this narrative that ARMS is a sales flop. Despite having sold 1.35 million units and counting, some want to use that information as proof that the game has failed to meet expectations. While it may not stack up to the heavy hitters on the Switch, especially in light of Super Mario Odyssey selling a whopping 2 million copies in 3 days, I think that people using that 1.35 million units sold tally are looking at it from the wrong perspective.
My wife made this for me to wear at a Halloween party. Really proud of her and how this turned out. Will definitely wear this at a future convention to show my love for ARMS!
In Third Person 